1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is methods and systems facilitating international travel, and more particularly, methods and systems for facilitation of facilitation of immigration planning and admissions.
2. Description of Related Art
With advances in technology, the world is becoming a smaller place. The number of international travelers has grown phenomenally in the recent past. Crossing borders, however, entails adherence to different sets of rules and regulations for different nations. Every international traveler has to pass through immigration checks and these checks are some of the most irritating and time-consuming aspects of international travel. The emergence of new technologies in the form of wired or wireless data communications has offered new opportunities for improved user experiences while complying with immigration regulations.
Moreover, in modern relations among nations, there is a trend toward travel without visas. Under one present international visa waiver program, for example, travelers can move among twenty-nine nations without visas. The nations participating in this program are: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, and Uruguay. Despite the ease of such visa-less travel, however, it is very difficult for travelers to know with certainty that they will actually be admitted to a destination nation. Visas, after all, are not grants of admission. Visas are authorization to apply for admission to the nation that granted the visa. By agreeing to permit travel without visas, the nations participating in the visa waiver program have agreed to allow travelers who are citizens of other participating nations travel to a port of entry and apply for admission without a prior need for a visa.
Such travelers can still be excluded for many reasons, some of which are very difficult to analyze in advance. In the U.S., for example, travelers applying for admission under the waiver program can be refused admission to the U.S. at the port of entry and returned immediately on the same carrier that brought them to the port of entry for any of a variety of reasons having to do with communicable diseases having public health significance, physical or mental disorders that may pose a threat to the safety of the traveler or others, crimes involving controlled substances, crimes involving moral turpitude, multiple criminal convictions, particularly severe violations of religious freedom, and being the spouse or child of an illicit trafficker in a controlled substance or listed chemical.
The application of such rules and regulations, moreover, varies considerably from nation to nation. It is very difficult, given present information availability and systems quality, to know with certainty in advance of arriving in a port of entry, for example, whether one will be excluded for what one believes to be honest, non-criminal political offenses. It is very difficult, given present information availability and systems quality, to know with certainty in advance of arriving in a port of entry, for example, whether one will be excluded for what one believes to be a well-controlled, although somewhat serious disease. Travelers can easily find their travel plans frustrated or ruined. The presence in systems of international travel of persons particularly at risk of encountering delays, persons who might not have traveled if they had had better information, unduly burdens systems of international travel and damages the experience of international travel for all travelers.
For all these reasons, therefore, there is an ongoing need for improvements in methods and systems for, and the experience of, international travel.